The Long Engagement
by Moonlady
Summary: A Geraldine/David fic that proposes that the conversation they had in Spring could have gone very differently.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: Alright. I've got a bone to pick with you guys... I KNOW that Geraldine/David is a thing. I've seen people on tumblr who like it. WHY ARE THERE NO FANFICS?! So yeah. I had to fix that... immediately. I've been a fan of this pairing for... ever since I saw Vicar of Dibley and realized that this could be a thing. I kept expecting them to get together near the end after that. The fact that Harry exists just pisses me off.  
That being said...

Disclaimer: I don't actually know who owns Vicar of Dibley, but I can assure you that it's not me. Clearly things would've been different if I'd had any say in it.

* * *

Geraldine Granger awoke from her bizarre nightmare completely frazzled. The sense of urgency was only just starting to wane.

When David Horton... Stiff, unbearable, stingy, uncompromising David Horton... When David Horton had just _strode_ into in parish council meeting, all jeans and leather, and proposed to her...

Well, really, there was only one thing that you could say in that situation wasn't there? What with all the effort he'd gone through and with everyone egging her on. The whole situation had just completely swept her away.

Once she'd gotten away and been able to look at the situation clearly she could see what a ridiculous predicament she'd gotten herself into. The man who had proposed to her was NOT David Horton. She knew that. He was a facsimile built around what he thought she wanted. David Horton did _not_ wear jeans, or leather, and he _certainly_ wasn't a member of the Labor Party.

She needed to get this sorted immediately. She prayed it would be simple...

[Break]

"I came over here to talk to you." Geraldine said after David had greeted her and let her into the parlor.

"What about, Darling?" David asked. Geraldine suppressed a wince at the endearment.

"I had a dream last night." She thought that was a good opening line.

"I had a dream last night too." David replied. "It was a nightmare. You came by a told me that you didn't love me and couldn't marry me after all."

"Ah." She commented intelligently.

"What was your dream about?" David asked.

"Oh... You know, nevermind all that." Geraldine scoffed, waving her hand dismissively.

"But... I really do feel we should talk about all of this." She said, attempting to go in a different direction.

"You've got wedding plans for me to look over already?" David asked, sounding pleasantly surprised.

"No!" Geraldine shouted. "No, that's just it. Don't you think you're rushing it just a bit?" She asked, a bit softer.

"Wasn't that what you wanted?" Impulsiveness and romance?" David asked.

"Well... yes..." She agreed hesitantly.

"So what's the problem then?"

Geraldine got up and fidgeted a bit as she thought how to put it.

"Alright... cards on the table." She said to psych herself up. "I just... don't think I can marry you David." She confessed. Something inside her hiccuped at the words that had just come out of her mouth. She frowned in confusion at the strange feeling.

"What?" David asked. The something that had hiccuped inside her protested at the slight warble in his voice.

"At least not the way things stand right now." She amended on an impulse. That quelled the funny feeling, but she wasn't sure exactly where to go from there. She came back and sat down on the couch again. David just looked at her expectantly, so she decided to try to press on.

"From your perspective I'm sure that this has been building for quite some time. But you see... From my point of view you've gone straight from 'I fancy you' to 'Let's get married.' Whereas it seems to me there should be something between those two. Do you see what I mean?" She asked, somewhat haltingly as she thought her way through it.

David visibly relaxed. This wasn't the outright rejection that he had feared it was.

"I suppose I _can_ see how this might seem a bit hasty from your end." David conceded. "But if you truly felt that way then why did you say yes?"

Geraldine rubbed her legs as she thought about the question. She should've seen it coming.

"You do know how to ask those armor piercing question don't you?" She commented with a sigh.

"There were lots of reasons. Probably very similar to the reasons you thought it was a good idea, if I'm honest," Geraldine said. "Of course in the moment the biggest factor was peer pressure. And it really was a grand romantic gesture, just like I like them. But even before that I'd been thinking how I'd like to get married, what with the arrival of little baby Geraldine and all... Sometimes the ticking of the biological clock gets a little loud." She mused. somewhat embarrassed.

"But even more than that I suppose I imagined that I thought maybe you and I could make a go of it. I mean... perhaps it's just loneliness, or the fact that we're the only two people in the village with a brain cell between the two of us, but the thought was there. And of course the feeling of being wanted counts for quite a bit." She finished off.

David took her hand and squeezed gently. He was giving her a look that she was certain she'd seen on his face before. The same one he'd given her when he'd asked her to stay in Dibley.

"You know... I never gave you a second thought, romantically speaking," She confessed.

"But you gave me a first?" David asked with a sly grin. Geraldine chuckled, but didn't answer. She sat up a bit straighter.

"Perhaps we can go about this differently." She suggested.

"What do you mean?" David asked.

"Well, why don't we just try dating?" She asked. It seemed almost embarrassingly obvious to her once she'd thought about it.

"Dating?" Apparently it was less obvious to David.

"Yes, dating." Geraldine answered. "A chance to see that we wouldn't kill each other if we spent any significant time together." She explained.

"Well... alright. But dating?" He asked again.

"Well... Call it a long engagement if you like. It'll help save face anyhow. Just... give it a year?"

There was a long silence where David considered her words. He didn't seem upset about any of it, just pensive.

"One _quick_ caveat though." She started up again.

"What's that?" He asked.

"You can't be like this. You've got to go back to your old stodgy self," She said.

"You don't like it?" David guessed.

"It's not that. I do appreciate the gesture, and you look quite nice in jeans. But the idea is to be with you, not the you that you think I wanted. You've got a lot of good qualities, but none of them are these." She pointed out with a gesture.

"Oh, very well." David agreed. "It'll be a relief to go back to normal."

Geraldine smirked at him. David grabbed her hand again.

"You know I would've put up with it forever if I thought it would make you happy?" He asked.

"I know David, I know." She answered.

"And you _do_ know that I really do love you?" He asked.

"David, if I thought you didn't, then this conversation would have been quite different." She told him.

"You would have come to tell me that you didn't love me and couldn't marry me after all?" David asked, a wry smile on his face.

"Spot on." Geraldine grinned.

And so it was decided. The Long Engagement... God only knows how it would go.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Alright. That's done then. I have filled that gap that needed filling. I hope I was able to do it with any quality. Lemme know what you think and if I should continue it or something. I've got a few little snippets in my head for what I could do with this, but not a lot. So feel free to leave ideas if you want more of this.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Decided to attempt doing this in little scene bits. Like the episodes are. So all the chapters are going to be little short snippets.

* * *

Geraldine put the water on to boil for tea as Alice chattered on in the background. She wasn't actually paying much attention, having learned when to ignore Alice's peculiar rambling.

"I saw you and Mr. Horton out last Thursday." Broke through the pleasant cloud of ignorance.

"Yes, he takes me out once a week. Like clockwork." She commented.

"Oh? Where do you go?" Alice asked, leaning over the couch as Geraldine came into the living room again, carrying the tray of tea.

"Usually just out to eat." Geraldine answered. "On Thursdays, at 6 O'clock. Every week." She said with a smirk.

"Why Thursdays?" Alice asked.

"Well I write my sermons on Saturdays and he's got something going on Fridays. You know how he is, rather die than break his schedule." Geraldine explained. "Plus everything's cheaper on a weekday." She joked. Alice nodded sagely.

"Well, you two seem to be getting on really well." Alice said after a moment, sounding terribly pleased with that assessment.

"I suppose so." Geraldine agreed. "A little spontaneity wouldn't kill anything, but it is nice to have something to know you can look forward to anyhow. Even if it is just a meal out a one of Dibley's _fine_ establishments."

"So why aren't you two married again?" Alice asked.

"Just because a man asks you to marry him doesn't mean you get hitched right away.. I mean, I didn't even know he was fond of me until he proposed. There has to be SOME mutual fondness for a marriage to work. So I thought that maybe if we just started out with dating first that would be a better idea." Geraldine tried to explain.

"But... you ARE still getting married? Because there seems to be some confusion on that end." Alice said. "And it's not just me this time." She pointed out.

"No... it's not just you." Geraldine sighed. "We just don't know ourselves yet either."

"But then... why call it an engagement then?" Alice asked.

"Well... I've said yes already, haven't I? So instead of just confusing the matter we decided to go on with that. You know how everyone in the village can be." Geraldine explained. Alice nodded knowingly.

"Stupid?" Alice clarified.

"Yes. Stupid." Geraldine answered solemnly.

* * *

**A/N:** So how was that then?


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Hugo, at the council meeting this evening why don't you sit at the end of the table?" David asked.

"Because I always sit next to you Father." Hugo answered, thinking it an actual inquiry.

"Yes, but I'd like you to sit at the end this time," David explained.

"But if I sit at the end, then where will the Vicar sit?" Hugo asked.

"Next to ME." David answered meaningfully.

Hugo just stood there blinking as he took a moment to puzzle it out.

"Oh." He said after a moment. "Quite right."

[Break]

David took his seat at the middle of the table. He sat his papers down and sorted through them idly. Hugo came in and went for his usual seat. David coughed and gave him a pointed look.

"Oh!... Right." Hugo pushed the chair in and took the seat at the end of the table.

"Oi, what're you sitting in the Vicar's seat for?" Owen asked.

"Now now. We don't have appointed seating. Hugo can sit wherever he likes." David commented.

"Can I sit next to you then?" Hugo asked hopefully.

"No." David answered.

David glared at the group as they started to snicker, catching on to what was going on.

"Hoping to play a little footsie, David?" Owen asked.

"No no no no no... No groping under the table." Jim said with a laugh.

"Oh shut up. There's nothing wrong with Hugo sitting over there. It's just a bit of a change is all." David protested.

Before anyone could argue with him Geraldine came through the door.

"Sorry I'm late, I've been so sluggish today. I decided to take a nap and then I nearly slept right through it." She excused.

"That's fine, we hadn't started yet." David got up quickly and pulled out the chair next to him... Which Geraldine completely bypassed.

"Oh... Hugo, you're in my seat." Geraldine noted.

"Ummm..." Hugo hesitated.

"Go on, budge up then." She insisted. Hugo stood up quickly and pulled the seat out for her.

"Oh, thanks Hugo." She said as she sat down.

Hugo stood there awkwardly for a moment, then sat down in his usual seat. The one that David was still holding.

"Oh, thank you Father." Hugo said as he sat down. David grimaced and sat down in his own seat to commence with the meeting.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The phone rang and David picked it up, annoyed to be distracted from his paper.

"Hello?" He said into the phone.

"Hello David." Simon's voice called through the phone line. David rolled his eyes and bit back a few choice words.

"Hello Simon." He said instead. "What can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if you'd put me up for a night or two. You see I'm passing through that way and I wouldn't mind seeing Dibley again." Simon said.

"Then why don't you just stay in a hotel?" David asked.

"Is that any way to treat a family member?" Simon asked in reply.

It really wasn't. David knew this, but no one in Dibley particularly cared for Simon, not after what he'd done to Geraldine. David most of all given that he was especially bitter about the whole affair. But he knew tossing his brother out on the street (even metaphorically speaking) would annoy Geraldine, she would say it wasn't the right thing to do. He was quite sure it wasn't because there was any love lost between the two of them either. She was just as capable of being bitter as he was.

"Oh, I suppose not." David conceded. "When will you be arriving?"

"Tomorrow evening. Sometime around 8." Simon answered. "I'll see you then shall I?" He asked, confirming his welcome.

"Yes, yes." David conceded.

"Excellent." Simon said cheerfully. "I'm looking forward to seeing Dibley again. Especially Gerry, I've got something important that I've been meaning to ask her. See you then David." Simon said before disconnecting.

"Hang on, what have-" Was all David was able to get out before the line went dead.

David removed the phone from his ear and glared at it, already regretting his decision to be charitable.


End file.
